2002 Hermitage La Chapelle

Full medium red-ruby color. Compared to the Petite Chapelle, the nose shows blacker fruits and less pepper, with notes of licorice, tar, cinnamon and mace. Dense and spicy on the palate, with lovely racy acids framing the blackberry and pepper flavors. Very juicy and impressively long for the vintage, with solid underlying structure for aging. This needs a good five or six years to lose its edge of acidity.